Bleeding Edge

Pynchon's eighth novel, published in 2013, begins on the first day of Spring 2001, in the aftermath of the dotcom crash and just prior to the events of September 11, 2001. Perhaps a Detective Thriller but, honestly, that simply does not begin to capture this journey into the Heart of the Beast.

Inherent Vice

Pynchon's seventh novel, published in 2009, is described as Psychedelic Noir, but it's much more. Doc Sportello, the hippie/detective protagonist, confronts the Death of the 60s and the reassertion of Control by the powers that be. Set in 1970, it foreshadows the Internet and the loss of privacy.

Mason & Dixon

Pynchon's fifth novel, published in 1997, was critically acclaimed and hailed as a return to form or, as T. Coraghessan Boyle put it, "This is the old Pynchon, the true Pynchon, the best Pynchon of all."

Vineland

Gravity's Rainbow

Pynchon's third novel, published in 1973, is "literally indescribable, a tortured cadenza of lurid imaginings and total recall that goes on longer than you can quite believe" said the New York Times, i.e., a masterpiece.